Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’

My youngest daughter made a request of me several years ago, to write down for her the wisdom I have acquired from all these many years of being alive, with even more under my belt now. She gives me too much credit. For a moment or two or three, I […]

I love my bed. Not the specific bed that I currently occupy at night now, but “my” bed, in general terms. It is my safe place, my place of comfort, my place of big ideas and small wishes, my place of remembering. I tuck myself into my bed when I […]

I recently read a list of accomplishments that a graduate of the University of Guelph provided to his fellow alumni in a response to an upcoming 50th reunion. I only got to the second or third bullet point before I abandoned the list and quit reading. I wasn’t sure which […]

I overheard a piece of a conversation the other day with one person asking another for their favourite food or favourite movie, I can’t remember which. I wasn’t really listening, but the word favourite caught my attention and it got me thinking. Many conversation starters when getting to know someone […]

I suffer from the affliction of chronic earliness. As afflictions go, I suppose it isn’t worthy of stewing about, as compared to the insatiable need to rob banks or chew my fingernails, afflictions of that nature. I never arrive late, and I wrestle with anxiety if being late appears as […]

I walked Gracie for her final before-bed loop the other night, bundled up as if I was on a trek to the Arctic Circle. Bright flashlight in hand, I stepped outside and started off down my road, Gracie bounding ahead of me. It was a cold night, for sure, but […]

We tend to make lists this time of year with plans to better ourselves, to take up physical fitness, to stop anything that we find bothersome about ourselves, what we consider our flaws and oftentimes, said list can be very long. It’s easy to spend time thinking about what we […]

I was thinking about “wonder” this morning when I woke early, not sure what had wakened me but staying prone in my bed while the first thoughts of the day eased out of the small corners of my brain and into my thoughts. Wonder. What is it exactly? What experiences […]

One of my favourite books of the last ten years is The Secret Life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd. Many of you will know of it, have read it, or saw the film adaptation of the book. It is the story of a child rising from loss and […]

I am thinking today of those struggling with mental health, perhaps feeling an increase in the weight of life at this time of year. Sometimes we think Christmas comes with a guarantee and maybe even an obligation to be joyful, as if hearing music around us and seeing images of […]

It is the time of year when many of us drag boxes from deep in the closet, from under the basement stairs, from the garage and as we open up the containers we celebrate what “was” more than what “is” or what “will be” and that is the very nature […]